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A procedural vote to waive Senate budget rules preventing consideration of a Democratic amendment to S.1637 (corporate tax relief legislation), providing manufacturing sector workers with assistance in the event their employer closes or lays them off because of import competition or overseas job outsourcing.

Progressives backed this amendment offered by Sen. Ron Wyden to S.1637, legislation that among other things provides tax breaks for U.S. corporations, including those who operate multi-nationally. Wyden's amendment would have provided manufacturing sector workers with assistance, so that people who lose their jobs when their employer closes or lays them off because of import competition or who lose their jobs when their facility moves overseas are eligible for federally funded retraining, income support, and help with health insurance. Progressives touted this amendment, saying it was a common sense and fair proposition to offer federal aid to manufacturing employees effectively abandoned by their employers, but conservatives objected to the amendment on procedural grounds, saying Senate rules did not allow for consideration of the proposal as part of S. 1637. Wyden sought to have these procedural barriers waived (removed), which would require the consent of three-fifths of the Senate (60 senators) voting with him. However, the vote fell short 54-45, and Wyden's amendment fell, preventing the protections from these laid off workers bring protected as part of the corporate tax bill.